Field
Aspects of the present invention generally relate to an information processing apparatus and a method for supplying power to an information processing apparatus.
Description of the Related Art
An information processing apparatus, such as an image forming apparatus, supplies power to predetermined sections when a power supply switch is turned on by a user or when starting up from a power saving mode, and performs start-up processing. However, when the power supply switch is turned on or when starting up from a power saving mode, an inrush current is produced based on the startup of the power supply circuit and the load of the powered-on sections.
In some cases, a commercial power supply source cannot stably supply power. For example, during a power outage, a momentary voltage drop, or a transient state of voltage when the power supply switch is turned on, power cannot be stably supplied to devices that are connected downstream.
With a commercial power supply source that is in such a state, due to the inrush current of the image forming apparatus, a protection function, such as overcurrent protection function or undervoltage-lockout (UVLO) function, acts on the power supply circuits in the image forming apparatus, which can cause the output of the power supply circuit to remain stopped.
For the safety of the device, these protection functions stop and latch the output of the power supply circuit when a trouble is detected. Consequently, the output of the power supply circuit remains stopped. In order to recover the power supply, it is necessary to turn off and turn on again the power supply of the power supply circuits.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-213042 discusses that, if a trouble has occurred in the power supply of a commercial power supply source, the trouble in the commercial power supply source is detected, and automatic recovery processing is performed based on whether there was a trouble in the commercial power supply source when the power supply from the commercial power supply source was restored, and on the device state.
However, in a technique discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-213042, there is a drawback that in a case where a trouble occurred in a power supply circuit in the apparatus due to the trouble in the commercial power supply source is a trouble that power supply cannot be automatically recovered by turning the device on and off, a meaningless OFF/ON operation is repeated by the automatic recovery processing.